Saturday's Game and Notes

The Twins lost 5-2 to the Red Sox Saturday night. It marked Glen Perkins's first start in the big leagues. Although his performance started well, it declined, but, overall, was still a good start. (Details below.)

I'm not going to name three stars, but instead focus on Perkins's start:
6 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 98 pitches.

In my opinion, Perkins performed better than expected. Many would say it could have been much better, but it also could have been much worse. I think many of us would have been pleased if we were told he was going to go 6 innings and give up 3 runs. And that was his line. We don't need to focus on the 3 HRs. Although that could have been much more troublesome. I think we need to remember that Perkins is coming off of a shoulder injury and is really just getting stretched out to last that long. Had he been taken out with his pitch count in the 80s, we would be talking about 5 innings pitched and 1 earned run. To summarize, I think Perkins still faces an uphill battle to stick in the rotation when all the regulars are healthy, but I don't think he's the first on the list to get sent down when a roster spot is needed.


In other news, Francisco Liriano pitched for Rochester and made positive progress. He ended up going 6 innings, giving up 5 hits, 2 runs (both earned), striking out 5 and only walking 2. He threw 58 strikes in 91 pitches.

Rochester also called up Danny Graves to replace Glen Perkins on the AAA roster. His name may sound familiar because he was a NL All-Star for the Reds as a closer in 2000 and 2004. He started 2005 poorly and was released after making an obscene gesture to a fan who was yelling racial slurs at him. It turns out that Graves is the first and only Vietnamese-born player in major league history. What isn't clear to me is what was said that was so offensive...? Regardless, after his release from Cincinnati, he bounced around before signing with the Twins this spring. I think the big news is that he's scheduled to make a start for the Red Wings on Monday. If he can put together a few good games in AAA, it wouldn't shock me if the Twins tried to use him out of the bullpen at some point this year. Just a thought...

The Twins sent INF Little Nicky Punto to the DL and recalled 2B/SS Alexi Casilla from Rochester. Casilla started off the year very poorly, but has been playing better recently. He's hitting .219 on the year, but over his last 7 games he batted 7 for 18 (.389). I don't think his promotion is a huge surprise, because he provides an additional player who can play the middle infield.